Dutch: Biography of a LanguageMore than 22 million people speak Dutch-primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, and the Antilles. Roland Willemyns here offers a well-researched and highly readable survey of the Dutch language in all its historical, geographic, and social aspects. Willemyns tells a story of language contact and conflict. From its earliest days, Dutch has been in intense contact with other languages both within and outside the borders of the Low Countries, particularly with French, Frisian, and German. The first part of Dutch concentrates on the historical development of standard Dutch and its dialects. The second part focuses on contemporary Dutch, including its many dialects in Flanders and Holland (some of them on the verge of extinction). Willemyns pays special attention to important questions in the history of Dutch, particularly the contentious matter of the global spread of Dutch through colonization-which led to "exotic" variations such as Afrikaans, pidgins, and creoles-and whether Dutchmen and Flemings are "separated by the same language." His final chapter tries to shed some light on the future of Dutch, and the impact of such "new" varieties as Poldernederlands (in Holland) and Verkavelingsvlaams (in Flanders). Placing the Dutch story in the context of other West-Germanic languages like German and English, Dutch: Biography of a Language is the only English language history of Dutch and will be sure to interest a global audience of students of Dutch, those of Dutch descent, and linguists and other scholars wishing to learn more about Dutch. |
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Contents
1 Who Speaks Dutch and Where? | 3 |
Its Ancestors and Contemporaries | 26 |
Language and Literature | 48 |
4 Early New Dutch 15001800 | 78 |
The Nineteenth Century | 110 |
The Age of the Standard Language | 143 |
7 Colonial Dutch | 181 |
8 Afrikaans | 215 |
9 Progress or Decay? The Future Development of Dutch | 234 |
10 Main Sources and Further Reading | 253 |
| 261 | |
| 277 | |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century administration Afrikaans Afrikaans language Amsterdam Antwerp Belgian Belgium bilingual Brabant Brachin Brugge Brussels Burgundian called Cape chapter colonial Consequently Creoles cultural dialect loss dictionary Dutch language territory Dutch speakers Dutch-speaking East English European evolution example finally Flemings Flemish movement French French-speaking Frisian function Germanic languages Goossens gradually grammar guage High German Holland important influence Ingvaeonic language border language planning language policy language variety Latin Limburg literature Low Countries Low German majority Middle Dutch mother tongue Nederlandse Taalunie norm northern official language Old Dutch onward opposed Papiamento percent Poldernederlands political population present-day prestige pronunciation province Randstad region Rutten Saxon schools Sijs social southern Netherlands speaking spelling spoken Sranan Standard Dutch standard language Suriname taal texts translation Tussentaal vernacular Wallonia Walloon West Flanders West Flemish West Germanic Willemyns Woordenboek words written Zeeland
Bibliographic information
| Title | Dutch: Biography of a Language |
| Author | Roland Willemyns |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | OUP USA, 2013 |
| ISBN | 0199858713, 9780199858712 |
| Length | 289 pages |
| Subjects | › › Foreign Language Study / Dutch History / Europe / General Language Arts & Disciplines / General Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / General Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Historical & Comparative Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social |
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